Stratford pastor Robert Genevicz, left, appears in court with Attorney Fred Paoletti, Jr. in Bridgeport, Conn. on Monday, March 31, 2014. Genevicz is
charged with stealing more than $170,000 from an elderly church member. Genevicz is pastor at Stratford Baptist Church

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

Stratford pastor Robert Genevicz, left, appears in court with...

Image 2 of 4

Stratford Baptist Church on Huntington Road in Stratford, Conn. on Thursday July 10, 2014.

The good Rev. Robert Genevicz, religious leader for the Stratford Baptist Church for the past 16 years, has been involved in a relationship with a woman with an extensive criminal record for most of that time, and he says she made him do terrible things -- illegal things.

"As I begin this reflection on the 15-year saga of the relationship ... I must admit that I have made so many unwise and stupid decisions," Genevicz states in a typewritten confession to Stratford Police obtained by Hearst Connecticut Media. "She has had a proclivity of lying, conning, stealing, using and harassing me as well as so many other individuals that one must ask how could a pastor be so naïve and gullible to keep getting suckered into her schemes?"

Genevicz, 67, is charged with scamming a 71-year-old retired Stratford school teacher and member of his flock out of more than $173,000 -- the victim's life savings.

His next court date is Aug. 7. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Howard Stein, who is prosecuting the case, declined comment. Genevicz's lawyer, Frederick Paoletti Jr., also had no comment.

On Thursday,Genevicz was sued by a Trumbull woman, Cathy Devack, who claims in the lawsuit filed in state Superior Court in Bridgeport that Genevicz conspired to defraud her father of thousands of dollars.

"The complaint that we have filed in this matter demonstrates reprehensible conduct by Rev. Genevicz, a man of the cloth, who had a legal and moral responsibility to oversee the finances of this elderly man, Mr. Devack," said Devack's lawyer, Charles Kurmay. "Instead of helping the elderly Mr. Devack, Pastor Genevicz robbed him blind. We look forward to seeing him in court."

Doraine Reed, 55, of Bridgeport, is named in both the arrest warrant for Genevicz in the Stratford case and in the lawsuit, but has not been charged in connection with either case. She is awaiting trial on unrelated charges of threatening and breach of peace.

In 2005 Reed, who describes herself on her Facebook page as a gospel singer, was convicted of third-degree assault and reckless endangerment. In 2010, she was convicted of multiple counts of second-degree forgery, attempted second-degree larceny and violation of probation. She could not be reached for comment.

"The first major incident occurred 15 years ago and involved a supposed Social Security check," Genevicz wrote in his statement. "It was a large sum of $10,000 and I cashed it using my church's checking account as collateral ... Needless to say, it bounced as a forgery and I had to pay back that amount to my church over the next two years on a weekly payment basis. There were several other bounced checks, stolen checks that she convinced me to cash."

The lawsuit states that in February 2010, Reed was hired as the 88-year-old Arthur Devack's live-in health aide at $5,000 a month. Just weeks later, the suits states Reed introduced Genevicz to Devack, and shortly thereafter Devack signed over power of attorney to the pastor.

The lawsuit states that Genevicz cashed checks from Devack's bank accounts which was used, among other things, to buy a Mercedes sedan for Genevicz.

Genevicz helped get Devack to a lawyer, and he acted as witness as Devack drafted a will leaving everything to Reed and nothing to his daughter and grandchildren, the family's lawsuit states.

Devack died June 21, 2010. In December 2011, Trumbull Probate Judge John Chiota overturned the will.

In his decision the judge said of Reed: "Her criminal modus operandi is to prey on the elderly and/or the handicapped. Had Ms. Reed and Pastor Genevicz never entered the decedent's life, it is not clear that he would have disinherited his children, the court doubts that such an event would have occurred."

"In fear of losing my reputation, my job as pastor of Stratford Baptist Church, damaging my image as a man of integrity, and hurting the cause of the God that I've tried to serve throughout my 45 years of public ministry, I have been intimidated, manipulated and fleeced in so many ways that I just got deeper and deeper in-twined financially in the hope of regaining at least a little of the money that had been distributed ... that in the end the very thing I was trying to avoid has happened," Genevicz states.